Evaluation of Parent Aware: Key Findings and Implications for the Parent Aware Redesign

In March 2022, Child Trends contracted with the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF)[1] to conduct an independent evaluation of Parent Aware, Minnesota’s Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) for early care and education (ECE) programs.[2] The evaluation includes several legislatively mandated research activities designed to assess the effectiveness of Parent Aware in supporting the state’s children, families, and ECE workforce. To ensure the evaluation could inform meaningful improvements to Parent Aware, these activities leveraged information from multiple sources and used various methodologies, including the following:

• Interviews with QRIS administrators to understand lessons learned from other states’ QRIS
• Surveys and focus groups with early educators and families to understand their experiences with the ECE system in Minnesota, including its strengths and challenges
• Reviews of existing literature and other documentation to understand the extent to which Parent Aware aligns with best practices from the most recent research
• Analyses of administrative data to explore trends in Parent Aware participation and the extent to which families across the state can equitably access ECE that meets their needs

Child Trends developed this report to synthesize key findings across all the evaluation activities we conducted from March 2022 to September 2024. In this report, we first provide some background information on Parent Aware as context for the evaluation findings. We then briefly describe our goals and methods for the various research activities conducted as part of the evaluation. (More detailed reports about our methods and findings from each activity are linked in the Appendix Table A1 and can also be found on the Parent Aware Evaluation webpage.) Finally, we provide a summary of key findings and implications for the Parent Aware Redesign. Taken together, our findings highlight various ways that Parent Aware could be strengthened to better serve the needs of children, families, and members of the ECE workforce.

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Footnotes

[1] This report was funded by the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families, which launched on July 1, 2024. Between July 2024 and July 2025, state programs and staff will gradually transfer to DCYF from the Departments of Human Services, Education, Health, and Public Safety. Visit the DCYF website for more information.

[2] The evaluation was passed by the Minnesota Legislature in 2021. For more information, see Minnesota Statutes 124D.142, Subd. 1-4 (2023) here: https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/124D.142.